Filling rear bag- what a PIA

[ronsatspokane]

I think some people are missing the point. The reason you use heavy sand in your bags is so that it is heavy. As heavy as you can get it without using lead (which is illegal in competition). Heavy sand in a quality bag also helps the bag and the ears hold their shape. The heavier the bag and the better the bag fits the stock, the more stable the setup is. That holds true for the first shot as well as the 20th shot of a string. A heavy bag will not move through that 20 shot string and your rifle will go back into battery with very little adjustment needed. When it comes to a stable shooting setup there is a world of difference between a Hi Score bag filled with used poly pellets and a SEB Bigfoot filled with heavy sand. The difference between a SEB bigfoot filled with heavy sand and a SEB bigfoot filled with half playground sand and heavy sand (yeah, I ran out of heavy when filling one of my bags) is significant. On the order of pounds. The SEB with heavy sand really stretches the arm and that thing never moves once it is setup.

P.S. I really like the idea of the cut arrow taped to the funnel. I have a funnel that almost fits the bags but that is a much nicer way to go.

 

[6bra1k]

when doing a new task that you know has been done by others, it is BEST TO ASK QUESTIONS FIRST.
forester products sells a "powder funnel with long tube"(pn 011021) that is near perfect for this task. it has a belled/flared end that needs to cut or ground off then the end dressed up with no burrs in or out.
i filled a rear large bag in little time on friday. filled the ears, then put the bag back in the shipping box with the fill tab up and began filling. some shake rattle and roll and had close to full bag. took it out of the box and slammed it on its base several times and then back to filling.
as far as type of sand playground sand is cheap but need to be sifted to prevent funnel clogging.
i have used heavy sand and reg sand for competition bags, but i have one bag i filled with number 7 shot...that will wake you up when you try to lift it.
the tube on the above funnel is threaded and can be replaced with a plain tube. or off topic ,, a case adapter can be made ,threaded and bingo a case specific filling funnel.

 

[JMayo]

Wally world red pack of funnels always works for me with hvy sand.
I've never took the easy way because it comes back to bite me.

 

[Shooter13]

This is what I bought a long time ago, Works well, I fixed a "spot" to stand the bag on end, stick the funnel in and start pouring sand.

Gear

Gear

www.brownells.com

 

[Bc'z]

Just filled a Edgewood rear bag and here’s what I use. Cut an aluminum arrow and wrapped it with painters tape so it would fit tight in funnel. Works great

Super Slams XX78's
Looks like I'll be using my XX75 2315 set up as a drop tube with my powder funnel.
Thanks for making my life easier.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

The filling tool from 21st century makes filling a bag a joy.

 

[rjtfroggy]

Buy a bag from Protektor already filled.

I have and I did a month ago, but I got a mini gator on here unfilled to go with the neo I got on here a couple of weeks ago.
If I don't like either of them, they will be on my tail gate for sale at the BBQ match in Oct.

 

[rayporter]

arrow shaft has worked for ages.

 

[209jones]

Had to open up a couple old Hoppe's rear bags to see what I'd filled it with, looks like some fine gravel of some sort. I have that one and a rabbit ear style that has some shot & gravel in it apparently. I don't shoot comps, so, shot it is, about 1/2 and 1/2 with gravel, being as I have lots still. Decided to get a new rear bag, Edgewood, I was questioning whether or not they had sewed the fill hole shut or not, it was a bit of a pig to open it up.

 

[lightman]

The first bag that I filled convinced me to buy the correct funnel. I think mine came from Sinclair and wasn't very expensive.

 

[archerforkids]

I snag the edge of the stitching on the leather fill neck in my vise with body of bag hanging down. Then take a center punch(tapered body) and open the leather up as much as possible. Then I use the 99 cent ketchup/condiment bottles you buy at any store and "squirt" the sand in. I have an endless source of garnett and it seems to meet my needs.
My CNC operator looks at me funny when I'm scarfing garnett out of the hopper.

 

[ebb]

With all you have been through lately I can't imagine that this would even be in the top 10. I stuck a funnel in the spout on the bag and poured till it stopped then shook it and poured some more.

 

[Timberyote]

Years ago. I took a piece of aluminum tubing that would just fit into the fill tubes, and attached it to a small aluminum funnel. The tube is long enough to reach all the way down the tube with an inch or so to spare. I generally use play sand for the ears and front bags, and a suitable grit of garnet blast media for the bottom cavity of the rear bag. It does not take me long to fill my bags. I transfer the sand to the funnel with a little pill bottle, and when things get to the point that there is enough in the bag so that it will not simply pour down the funnel, I fill it, part way and start cycling the tube in and out of the fill tube with perhaps a half or three quarter inch stroke, so that the blunt end of the tubing packs the sand. Doing it this way, I can get the bag as hard as I require, with relative ease. The trick is to have the right tool for the job. Since I did not see one for sale, I made one. It is old and ugly, but it works really well. Generally, bags will stretch some after their initial filling so I may have to top them off. The other trick is to use a good sized flat blade screwdriver to tuck the tubes into their respective pockets, and carefully pull them out when that is needed. Some time back, when I told a shooter that he might need to adjust the amount of sand in a bag so that it would work better, he told me that he assumed that the manufacturer would put the right amount of sand in. Bad assumption. Bag tuning is a bit of an art, that generally requires taking your materials to the range so that you can do shooting tests. You would not believe how much difference a bag and how it is filled can make. With a really good rifle and ammunition it can be a major factor.

This is what I did.

The funnel I used was a Coleman lantern funnel (aluminium) and duct tape a length of aluminium tube to it. I used silica.

After filling, I dropped the bag on the ground to help settle the silica, then topped up as needed. After a couple of years of use, I needed to add a little more.

This was about 1986.

 

[Shooter13]

This works well but still a PITA.

 

[Dgd6mm]

My buddy teele1 sent me a 15lb. bag of heavy sand and one of those Sinclair funnels one year as a gift to fill my new SEB rear bag. Thanks again Jim, it works great.

 

[divingin]

The trick is to have the right tool for the job. Since I did not see one for sale, I made one.

Sinclair has (or at least had) a bag filling funnel available. Plastic funnel, maybe 3" at the open end, with a rigid plastic tube that was 8 or 9 inches long. Sounds like you built yourself the same tool (probably cheaper as well.)

 

[BoydAllen]

Sinclair has (or at least had) a bag filling funnel available. Plastic funnel, maybe 3" at the open end, with a rigid plastic tube that was 8 or 9 inches long. Sounds like you built yourself the same tool (probably cheaper as well.)

Thanks for the tip. I build mine a loooog time ago, from materials that I had on hand. That old aluminum funnel has gotten pretty ugly over the years, but it still works.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Heres the one i built from a lee funnel and aluminum arrow shaft around 1998 and the 21st century unit

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Just a follow up to a previous post.
After searching for a couple days for "heavy sand" That I did not find I took some advice from a member and found that "leveling sand" isn't acceptable for use in a bag. When I opened the bag I found it to be damp and it had gravel in it, it would need to be dried and sifted, I now have a 50 lb. bag in the garage to be dumped out in the yard somewhere.
I ended up using a crushed black quartz from the pet supply store, normally for the bottom of fish tanks. I only got about 6.5 lbs. in the bag after roughly 2.5 hours of shaking, pounding, and molding to get it in. I will probably need to put more after I use it 1 or 2 times.
After a long winded account, I guess this post is just to say when you buy a front or rear bag buy it prefilled spend the extra couple of bucks for the shipping and filling, you will save a lot of aggravation and time, plus the bag maker probably has the heavy sand and will get it filled to the right consistency the first time.

it’s not bad if you have a good funnel. Just take your time. Brownells/Sinclair usually has funnels and the smaller bags of heavy sand in stock so you don’t have to buy a big bag at the hardware store.

You should try your hand at changing out a steering gear box and pitman arm on a 30+ yr old rusted out truck then tell me if you think filling bags is a hard job. Lol.

 

[Timberyote]

You should try your hand at changing out a steering gear box and pitman arm on a 30+ yr old rusted out truck then tell me if you think filling bags is a hard job. Lol.

This is so true, I've done too many as a mechanic!